A few weeks ago, we attended a cocktail party at the Tasting Table kitchen where Maille, known for their fabulous Dijon mustard, introduced their limited-edition collection of gourmet vegetable-flavored mustards called Les Jardins Secrets des Chefs (French for The Chefs’ Secret Gardens). This trio of mustards is characterized by the herbal and vegetable influences of the season.

The three featured mustards―Mustard with Carrot and a Hint of Shallot, Mustard with Olives and Herbes de Provence, and Mustard with White Wine, Beetroot, and a Hint of Honey―were each unique in terms of flavor and spice level. Guided by Pierette Huttner, the first mustard sommelier in the United States, we tried each one on their own, and you can really taste the distinctive herbs and vegetables in each one.

All of the dishes that Tasting Table prepared that night featured these mustards or other Maille products and everything was incredibly flavorful. But out of all the dishes, I absolutely loved the Sunchoke and Potato Salad and the Beet and Burrata Salad with Honey Dijon Vinaigrette. I kept going back for more (and more). So instead of parking myself by the buffet table where these salads were, I requested the recipes for both and they happily sent them to me. So I am sharing them here with you.

Sunchoke and Potato Salad
This is the potato salad you are going to want to eat all summer long! Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are sweet and nutty when roasted and add such a delicious tone to this potato salad. While this recipe does not feature one of the three mustards above, it does have another excellent blend that you should definitely add to your dishes-the Sun Dried Tomato & Espelette Chili Pepper mustard.

DIRECTIONS
1. Make the roasted sunchokes: Preheat the oven to 350º and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, toss the roasted sunchoke ingredients together and spread out on to the prepared baking sheet. Roast until the sunchokes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Once cooled, slice into ¼ inch rings.

2. Make the fried shallots: In a medium saucepan, heat 2 inches of canola oil over medium heat to 325º and line a plate with paper towels. In a medium bowl, toss the shallots with the AP flour to coat. Working in batches, fry the shallots until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shallots to the prepared plate to drain.Immediately season with salt.

3. Boil the potatoes and greens: Prepare an ice bath and set aside. In a medium pot, add the potatoes. Cover completely with cold water and season liberally with salt. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then lower the temperature to a simmer and allow to cook until the potatoes are tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the water with a slotted spoon and place in the prepared ice bath until the potatoes are fully cooled.Remove the potatoes from the ice bath and slice into ¼inch rings.

4. To the same pot, add the mustard greens and cook until vibrant green and tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the greens to the ice bath and let cool completely, then ring out with paper towels until dry. Place the greens on a cutting board and roughly chop.

5. Make the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients. Add the reserved sunchokes, potatoes and greens and toss until the vegetables are coated well.

6. Transfer the salad to a platter and garnish with fried shallots, then serve.

Beet and Burrata Salad with Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

This incredible salad with candied sunflower seeds, roasted beets and creamy burrata is a keeper!

DIRECTIONS
1. Make the roasted beets: Preheat the oven to 350º. In an 8 inch square baking dish combine all the beet ingredients and toss to coat. Cover with tin foil and roast the beets until tender when pierced with a knife, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Allow the beets to cool completely, then peel, and cut each into 8 pieces.

2. Meanwhile, make the candied sunflower seeds: In a small bowl, toss the candied sunflower seed ingredients until well incorporated. Spread into an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast sunflower seeds in the same oven as the beets until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool on the baking sheet. Using your hands, break apart any clumps of sunflower seeds, then set aside.

3. Make the vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, Maille Beet Mustard with a Touch of Honey, honey, lemon zest and garlic clove until smooth. Slowly start to pour in the olive oil, whisking constantly, until all the oil is emulsified and a vinaigrette is formed. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Assemble the salad: In a medium bowl, toss the roasted beets with half of the vinaigrette. Transfer to a platter and top with pieces of the torn burrata. In the same bowl as the beets, dress the mache with the remaining vinaigrette. Pile the mache over the beets and burrata. Garnish with the reserved candied sunflower seeds, pomegranate seeds and sliced golden beet. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey dijon with the olive oil and drizzle on top of the salad, then serve.

As you know, I am a huge fan of Maille products, so it was fun to learn about all these blends and to taste dishes actually created with them. Of course, with the opening of Maille’s Manhattan boutiques, Maille’s signature “mustard on tap” is now available here in the US. They are served from authentic French ceramic pumps into cute earthenware pots which are then corked. They are reusable and refillable and also make excellent gifts! Plus, each store has their special blends and seasonal collections available. It’s almost like visiting their stores in Paris!

I also just found out that you can even attend a “Create Your Own Mustard” class at Maille’s new flagship boutique in the Flatiron district, as well as at Maille’s Lincoln Square location on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. I think I will be signing up for that soon!

Disclosure: I received a collection of mustards as a parting gift and some were sent to me to make these recipes and while I was under no obligation to post, I did so anyways because I just love Maille products and wanted to share them with you.

The past weekend I played catch up with some cooking and recipe testing that I’ve wanted to do for the past few weeks. Somehow, I missed a week of posting for Cook The Book Fridays, but it was for a good reason. Last weekend we joined Jackie Gordon, aka The Diva That Ate New York, on a Wing Crawl of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was a beautiful day and we walked and ate wings (and chicken) at several different locations.

Starting at Blue Smoke, the group devoured some Smoked Alabama White Wings. These chicken wings, slathered in a white BBQ sauce, were juicy, tangy and all sorts of good! It was going to be hard to top these, but on our third or fourth stop, we had, what I thought were the best wings of all, the Hickory Smoked, Jerk Rubbed Wings with Lime from Duck’s Eatery. I ate mine and I ate Ari’s, and could have eaten several more. The spicy jerk rub with a squeeze of lime made them seriously, finger licking yum! Check out my Instagram to see photos of all the delicious wings we tried.

We only made it to six or seven of the fourteen stops that were planned along the way, but I now have a list of new places to try and I am determined to go and eat more wings and other things!

So, this week, I have two recipes that I made from David’s book. The first, Tart Salées Au Jambon, Au Bleu, et Aux Poires (Ham, Blue Cheese and Pear Quiche) is a rich, creamy quiche that’s made with cream cheese, bits of salty ham, tangy blue cheese and a pear. The crust is made with corn meal and lends a slightly sweet note to the dish. It’s best to use a fine ground corn meal so it doesn’t feel too gritty to the bite. The recipe only calls for one pear and it’s is barely noticeable but it does add another layer of texture. I probably would add a second pear because it pairs so well with these flavors!

The addition of cream cheese takes this quiche to another level of decadence. It’s incredibly rich so you really only have to eat a small slice to have your fill. David notes that you could also use bacon instead of the ham, and that would also give you a bit of a nice crunch. The eggy filling also goes really well with fresh, chopped herbs such as tarragon.

I realize that blue cheese is an acquired taste and while I am a big fan, not everyone in my house is. Therefore, I have frozen half of the quiche to take to work for lunches and I’ve been eating the other half all week long.

The quiche goes perfectly with the second recipe from David’s book, Fattoush.

Fattoush is nothing more than a mixed salad with herbs, toasted, day old flat bread or pita and a generous sprinkling of Sumac on top. The addition of mint to lettuces is one of my favorite salad surprises. It’s so fresh and bright. David’s recipe also includes an addictive lemon vinaigrette which will have you using any leftover pieces of bread to wipe your bowl clean. This salad has made me feel, at least, a little better about eating such an indulgent quiche!

This week’s recipes can be found on pages 155 and 116. For details on recreating this and other recipes, check out the CookTheBookFridays site and see others who are also cooking the book-

I can’t believe that the last time I was here was right after I returned from France. I still want to tell you all about the wonderful gardens and Chateau du Rivau in Chinon, but that will have to be another time. I have a bit of catching up to do!

May turned into June and July and then August in a frenzy of activity. While I would like to say that I, myself, was the cause of all the busyness, really, it was the kids that kept me on the go this summer.

We began the first of what is now dubbed, “The College Sweatshirt Tour”. We amassed quite a collection of collegiate logo wear, not to mention several hundred miles in the car each weekend! I am proud that the girls are both spending their summers at various colleges taking classes and getting a sense of college life and what will be necessary for their applications and their aspirations. We are already planning the classes for next year.

During one of our (three) trips to Boston, we stayed in Providence one night and visited with one of my very best friends and dined at a fabulous restaurant, Bacaro. Hungry after the long drive, we ordered nearly the entire menu- platters of tapas, grilled pizzas, entrees, and desserts. Each dish was extremely flavorful and beautifully presented. It was nonstop eating until we just couldn’t anymore. Then, moaning from fullness, we walked back to her house in an attempt to digest before we collapsed for the night. Lunch the next day was a feast of leftovers from all the doggie bags we ended up bringing back. We will definitely return there again- but maybe not order so much food next time!

In Boston, we were able to do a little sightseeing (The Boston Science Museum was terrific!) and ended up dining at Summer Shack on three occasions. When traveling with kids, sometimes you find a place that everyone likes so you stick with it. Honestly, it was mostly me that wanted to go back. I absolutely loved their grilled fish with sweet potato and grilled corn hash. It was sweet, spicy and had little bits of crispy bacon- so good, I wanted more!

We also met up with Jackie Gordon of The Diva That Ate NY who was visiting with Lisa Goldfinger of the beautiful blog, Panning The Globe. Lisa opened her home to us one evening and she and Jackie prepared platters of glorious food. I’ve followed Lisa’s blog for quite some time so it was truly wonderful to meet her in person. If you have not seen it, please do go visit.

For my birthday, which I don’t really celebrate, after a breakfast crepe cake we ventured to Jackson Heights, Queens where I ate arepas, momos and more. We made an afternoon mini food crawl, but we are clearly amateurs since we only went to three places before everyone was full. I also finally got a chance to visit Despaña in Soho where we had tapas of patatas bravas, tortillas, and cervezas.

Labor Day weekend we went to a blow out barbecue hosted by my dear friend Lora of Diary of a Mad Haus Frau. There was much eating and deliciousness there, not to mention the awesome company. Jackie (Gordon) and Lora cooked up so many terrific dishes and Paul (Jackie’s partner) ran a liquid nitrogen ice cream bar and manned the grill. Ben also had a great time with Vicki Winters and her husband Daniel flying his drone. Fun!

In addition to my chocolate ganache tart, I brought one of my favorite salads to make, Bok Choy Salad with Soy Ginger Dressing. I’ve had this recipe for many years. Mine is a hand written and photocopied version that was given to me. I honestly have no idea who actually invented it, but a search of the internet it seems like it is a quite popular recipe in its many incarnations. So to whomever can claim this as their own, my many thanks. It’s a crowd pleaser. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!